Addiction/Recovery
Isn’t it humbling to realize that only God is God?
When someone is stuck in addiction, they think they know what is best. But remarkably, God frequently intervenes, humbles them, and shows them that He knows what is best.
Life Recovery Step Six requires one to be “ready to have God remove these defects of character.” So, Step Seven is even more challenging because it involves taking action; it says, “We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.” Without a doubt, Step Seven is hard—it takes relinquishing pride.
In Step Seven, one must ask God to remove the shortcomings they’ve identified and accepted in the previous steps. Any defects removed must be replaced with humility—this step involves a commitment to honesty.
If anyone had a problem with honesty, it was King Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible. (more…)
Addiction/Recovery
Has the pain from bad choices, habits, and decisions made life a prison? If so, it’s possible to break free from bondage—confession is the key!
Addictions and unhealthy patterns hold a person back from living a life of freedom that God designed for them to live. But when they see how their actions have hurt others and tell those whom they’ve hurt that they’re sorry, their life will transform for the better. And going through Life Recovery Step Five is the key to a person in recovery experiencing the relief their soul craves.
What is Life Recovery Step Five? Life Recovery Step Five states, “We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” (more…)
Faith/Spiritual
What is courage? Mark Twain described it best when he wrote, “Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.”
In recovery, one must have the courage to look inside. Is it scary? Yes. But someone stuck in addiction must face their authentic self. Their real self is lurking in the dark underneath whatever it is that they’ve tried to ignore, deny, or cover-up. It’s so much easier for someone to focus on the darkness of other hearts, but it’s much harder to look at the darkness of one’s heart.
Psalm 32 mentions freedom comes from facing the darkness inside and letting it out into the light. The release comes from having the courage to look inside. In the New Living Translation, verse five says, “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” (more…)
Life Issues
On the outside, we have it all together. But on the inside, we may have secrets that we’ve never told a soul. Our secrets lie below the surface. No one can see them; nevertheless, they are there. These secrets cause us pain and keep us from being fully known.
Secrets have the potential to destroy everything near and dear to us. But when we address our pain and bring our secrets out into the open, we’ll find healing.
Where do we feel pain? (more…)
Sexual Integrity/EMB
You want to have sexual integrity. But it’s not easy, is it? After all, if you struggle with compulsions and unhealthy habits, they will sabotage you and undermine your relationships. Healing is possible, however, if you examine your life and make some changes. God will help you move beyond sexual addiction to sexual integrity. Here are twelve steps you can take that will help you find freedom.
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- Open our hearts to God’s power to free us from the grip of unhealthy sexual behaviors.
Acknowledge you are powerless—realize God can accomplish what you can’t. “What is impossible for people is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
- Allow God to restore our sexual sanity.
Recognize how your sexual behaviors have been out-of-control, and look to God to restore control to your sexuality. “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life” (2 Pet. 1:3) (more…)
